1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collar, such as a pet collar, and indicia bearing stud assemblies secured or securable to the collar.
2. Related Art
Identification collars, e.g. for pets, and identification bracelets have been known for quite some time. Typically, these items take the form of an elongated strap having at least one end provided with a connecting device, such as a belt buckle, snaps, a clasp, hook and loop fastening material, or the like, for connecting the two ends of the strap together to form a loop. In use, the loop is formed around a wearers neck (in the case of a collar) or wrist (in the case of a bracelet).
Pet owners typically place a collar, such as described above, around their pets neck for identification purposes. For example, pet collars are known to carry pre-printed or engraved tags carrying identification information, such as the pets name, the owners phone number, etc. Likewise, identification bracelets, to be worn around a wearers wrist, are known to carry identification indicia, such as a pre-printed or engraved name or message.
Generally, such known collars and bracelets are pre-printed or pre-engraved with permanent identification or message indicia. That is, a user must purchase the collar or bracelet pre-printed or pre-engraved or have such printing or engraving performed by a professional before the collar or bracelet is worn for its intended purpose. Typically, the printing or engraving process permanently applies the identification or message indicia to the collar or bracelet. Thus, once the indicia is printed or engraved, the user cannot change the indicia.
Additionally, a common arrangement for having indicia printed or engraved for a particular user requires the user to purchase the collar or bracelet and then have it sent to a professional printer or engraver for printing or engraving the specific message desired. Depending on the printer or engraver, the process of purchasing the collar or bracelet, sending it to a professional printer or engraver, having the printer or engraver apply the message and then return the collar or bracelet may take a relatively long period of time and can be a great inconvenience to the user.
An example of a prior apparatus designed to overcome these above noted deficiencies is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 shows a pet collar 100 having indicia bearing stud assemblies 102 secured along its length. The indicia bearing stud assemblies 102 are secured to collar 100 in an arrangement wherein the indicia provides a message, such as the pet's name and the owners phone number.
Known stud assemblies 102, such as show in FIG. 7 include a pin 104 and a pin receptacle 106. Pin 104 includes a backing 108 and a cylindrical post 110 extending from the backing and having a lip 112 at its free end. Receptacle 106 includes a plate 114 having an indicia bearing surface (facing into the page in FIG. 7) and a hollow cylindrical extension 118. The wall of extension 118 is slit in several locations 120 to form plural fingers 122 which are bent into the hollow interior 124 of extension 118. Typically pin 104 and receptacle 106 are made of stamped and formed metal or metal castings.
Stud assemblies 102 are secured to collar 100 by passing pin post 110 through an aperture in collar 100 and receiving the free end of post 110 within the hollow interior of extension 118. Upon receiving post 110, lip 112 is forced past the free ends 124 of fingers 122 to thereby connect pin 104 to receptacle 106 with collar 100 therebetween.
Once connected, pin 104 and receptacle 106 can freely rotate with respect to each other. This is due, in part, to the cylindrical shape of post 110. Additionally, the distance between backing 108 and plate 114 of an assembled stud assembly 102 are fixed and cannot be adjusted before or after connecting pin 104 to receptacle 106. Furthermore, receptacle 106 requires two separately manufactured parts (extension 118 and plate 114) which must be assembled before use. The manner in which fingers 122 bend and extend into the interior of extension 118 makes it impractical, if not impossible, to form receptacle 106 as a single piece structure formed by injection molding or a single piece structure formed by metal stamping.